By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Federal prosecutors in Arizona on Tuesday unveiled a whopping 158-count federal indictment in a years-long investigation into a firearms smuggling ring.
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In a press conference Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona announced a conspiracy charge against 28 defendants, accusing them of making straw purchases in Arizona with the intent to smuggle them into Mexico.
The indictment alleges that Fernando Daniel Castro of Phoenix conspired with others to recruit people to buy firearms in Arizona in exchange for money. Castro then sold some of those firearms, which included AK-style rifles and Glock 19 pistols, knowing that the weapons would be exported out of the U.S.
Authorities seized more than 100 firearms and hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds purchased in Arizona, Courchaine said.
“Every single illegal firearm and round taken off the street today represents potential lives saved in our communities and streets here in AZ as well as abroad in Mexico,” said Jason Stevens, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Arizona.
Authorities said the criminal network made straw purchases across Maricopa County and other parts of the state.
“By disrupting the supply chain, we are denying cartels and violent criminal organizations the very tools of terror that they use to exert control and intimidate innocent citizens,” Stevens said.
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The indictment includes individuals in Mexico, though no one has been extradited to the U.S., according to Courchaine.
The charges were brought in the two-year investigation led by the Homeland Security Task Force.
In the past year, there have been several federal indictments regarding straw purchasing of firearms, or buying firearms while falsely claiming they’re for personal use.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors charged seven Arizonans with plotting to buy firearms at Arizona gun stores and intending to smuggle them into Mexico for use by drug cartels.
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